Joe Wright

An English director adept in adapting dramatic literature, Joe Wright also demonstrated a facility with more modern day fare that was far removed from the period costume dramas for which he had first...
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To add to the already tremendous cast of Focus Features' Anna Karenina (featuring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Johnson), Saoirse Ronan, Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson and Andrea Riseborough have all joined Joe Wright's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel. These moves shouldn't be much of a surprise though, considering Wright is known for his successful adaptations of literary hallmarks like Atonement and Pride and Prejudice.
For those who only "read" Anna Karenina in sophomore-year English, it's widely considered to be one of the greatest novels ever written. It follows a young woman who, despite being married to an older man, desires a younger chap -- which leads to some pretty heavy and complicated shit. In the film, Macfadyen will play Karenina's brother, Macdonald his wife, Ronan the sister, Williams the mother, Gleeson a family friend and Riseborough a character named Princess Betsy.
Granted, the film will be enjoyable, but it will be interesting to see if the folklore surrounding Anna Karenina will translate to the screen. One of the novel's greatest attributes is its beautiful language, so removing that will prove to be a challenge. But Wright's a talented dude, and so if there's anyone who can handle something on this level, it's the guy who somehow made an actually good movie about a 14-year-old trained killer.
Source: Coming Soon

The first and most important thing you should know about Paramount Pictures’ Thor is that it’s not a laughably corny comic book adaptation. Though you might find it hokey to hear a bunch of muscled heroes talk like British royalty while walking around the American Southwest in LARP garb director Kenneth Branagh has condensed vast Marvel mythology to make an accessible straightforward fantasy epic. Like most films of its ilk I’ve got some issues with its internal logic aesthetic and dialogue but the flaws didn’t keep me from having fun with this extra dimensional adventure.
Taking notes from fellow Avenger Iron Man the story begins with an enthralling event that takes place in a remote desert but quickly jumps back in time to tell the prologue which introduces the audience to the shining kingdom of Asgard and its various champions. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) son of Odin is heir to the throne but is an arrogant overeager and ill-tempered rogue whose aggressive antics threaten a shaky truce between his people and the frost giants of Jotunheim one of the universe’s many realms. Odin (played with aristocratic boldness by Anthony Hopkins) enraged by his son’s blatant disregard of his orders to forgo an assault on their enemies after they attempt to reclaim a powerful artifact banishes the boy to a life among the mortals of Earth leaving Asgard defenseless against the treachery of Loki his mischievous “other son” who’s always felt inferior to Thor. Powerless and confused the disgraced Prince finds unlikely allies in a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings) who help him reclaim his former glory and defend our world from total destruction.
Individually the make-up visual effects CGI production design and art direction are all wondrous to behold but when fused together to create larger-than-life set pieces and action sequences the collaborative result is often unharmonious. I’m not knocking the 3D presentation; unlike 2010’s genre counterpart Clash of the Titans the filmmakers had plenty of time to perfect the third dimension and there are only a few moments that make the decision to convert look like it was a bad one. It’s the unavoidable overload of visual trickery that’s to blame for the frost giants’ icy weaponized constructs and other hybrids of the production looking noticeably artificial. Though there’s some imagery to nitpick the same can’t be said of Thor’s thunderous sound design which is amped with enough wattage to power The Avengers’ headquarters for a century.
Chock full of nods to the comics the screenplay is both a strength and weakness for the film. The story is well sequenced giving the audience enough time between action scenes to grasp the characters motivations and the plot but there are tangential narrative threads that disrupt the focus of the film. Chief amongst them is the frost giants’ fore mentioned relic which is given lots of attention in the first act but has little effect on the outcome. In addition I felt that S.H.I.E.L.D. was nearly irrelevant this time around; other than introducing Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye the secret security faction just gets in the way of the movie’s momentum.
While most of the comedy crashes and burns there are a few laughs to be found in the film. Most come from star Hemsworth’s charismatic portrayal of the God of Thunder. He plays up the stranger-in-a-strange-land aspect of the story with his cavalier but charming attitude and by breaking all rules of diner etiquette in a particularly funny scene with the scientists whose respective roles as love interest (Portman) friendly father figure (Skarsgaard) and POV character (Dennings) are ripped right out of a screenwriters handbook.
Though he handles the humorous moments without a problem Hemsworth struggles with some of the more dramatic scenes in the movie; the result of over-acting and too much time spent on the Australian soap opera Home and Away. Luckily he’s surrounded by a stellar supporting cast that fills the void. Most impressive is Tom Hiddleston who gives a truly humanistic performance as the jealous Loki. His arc steeped in Shakespearean tragedy (like Thor’s) drums up genuine sympathy that one rarely has for a comic book movie villain.
My grievances with the technical aspects of the production aside Branagh has succeeded in further exploring the Marvel Universe with a film that works both as a standalone superhero flick and as the next chapter in the story of The Avengers. Thor is very much a comic book film and doesn’t hide from the reputation that its predecessors have given the sub-genre or the tropes that define it. Balanced pretty evenly between “serious” and “silly ” its scope is large enough to please fans well versed in the source material but its tone is light enough to make it a mainstream hit.

The Aussie star admits he wasn't used to the big freeze he experienced when he arrived on set for the action thriller - and he only hoped medics would recognise the symptoms of hypothermia before they took hold on him and the rest of the cast.
He tells WENN, "The cold in Finland was something else, but we were well looked after. The funniest thing was we got a memo about how to diagnose hypothermia in your co-worker, because apparently it's easier to diagnose it in someone else rather than yourself.
"One of the things was erratic behavior. I thought, 'S**t, we're on a movie set, so everyone is gonna be behaving erratically!'"
But, despite the extreme cold which dropped to minus-29, director Joe Wright insists his leading man was a trooper throughout the shoot: "A more precious actor and we would have had a complete f**king nightmare on our hands. There were no large Winnebagos and catering was basically set up in an old wooden hut... but Eric was incredibly game."

Hands down, the best studio film that I've seen this year is Focus Features Hanna, a visceral coming of age story set within the violent world of international assassins. The picture features standout performances from its stars Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana as well a career-redefining turn from director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice). If you're going to spend $10 at the multiplex this weekend, I highly recommend this movie (read my review here) and if you'd like to know more about it, check out my exclusive interviews with Ronan and Bana below!
Eric Bana talks about conjuring thrilling fight sequences with Wright and the film's choreographer as well as the reasons why audiences love spy/assassin films

Knightley, Aaron Johnson and Jude Law were previously confirmed for roles, while Sherlock Holmes star Cumberpatch and Trainspotting actress Kelly MacDonald have just been added to the all-star cast.
Wright tells ThePlaylist.com, "Kelly Macdonald's confirmed, Benedict Cumberbatch is confirmed. I'm still waiting on Saoirse and James."
Insiders suggest Knightley will lead the cast as Anna, Law will play her husband, Alexei Karenin, and Nowhere Boy star Johnson will portray the literary heroine's lover, Vronsky.

Hanna is the first wide release of 2011 that I’m truly smitten with. Granted the competition isn’t exactly fierce this early in the year, but I’ll wager right here and now that this arthouse action flick about a little girl with quick reflexes and an itchy trigger finger will prove to be more satisfying than a number of the big budget effects orgies that populate the summer and fall box offices-- and hey, I’m all for effects orgies, but considering we’ve got Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Green Lantern in our future, I’d hardly call this a far fetched prophecy.
But I’m not using this week’s MindFood just to fawn over how badass Saoirse Ronan is as Hanna, how devishly fairy tale her story is, how on-point the supporting characters are (if Thor has a single character more amusing than the wannabe celebutant Hanna befriends, I won’t speak for a week), how wonderfully engaging director Joe Wright’s camerawork is or how blood-pushing the Chemical Brothers’ score is. I could easily do all those things, but that’s not the agenda this week. Instead I’d like to focus on one aspect that Hanna does better than most of its peers -- and it’s got plenty as far as this particular premise goes: the super soldier.
It’s certainly easy to diagnosis why so many movies chase the super soldier thread. Having the government play with a few fundamental proteins is an easy way to make man made superheroes. No need to devise an elaborate mythology for why someone has abnormal strength, speed, and sight; just saying their DNA was changed is a magical panacea that allows you to invent whatever abilities you want. So you’d think with that level of freedom, it’d be pretty easy to make a kick ass movie about a super soldier, no? You’d be wrong.
All too often the soldier is just plain boring. Too many filmmakers lack restraint; they go wild with their uber soldat’s capabilities, turning them into unstoppable slayers of mere mortals and in the process make their only real threat a fellow super soldier. That’s all well and good if you’re playing with action figures, but when you’re working with actual characters and narratives for 90+ minutes, the only way you’re going to make a genetically perfect human interesting is if they’re, well, not perfect. They have to have an Achielles heel.
In the case of Hanna, it’s not her actual sex or age that makes her vulnerable, it’s the fact that she suffers from arrested development. She’s spent her entire life training to kill people, and she’s a certified death dealer for sure, but her separation from the world has turned her personality into a ticking time bomb. It’s the little things in life she can’t handle and you’re really not quite sure if she’s going to explode and kill everyone around her, implode and kill herself or if someone will be patient enough to defuse her triggers. That’s not to say she’s on the verge of killing innocent people or slitting her wrists, but that Hanna is simply on the verge of... something.
There’s a variable to her that has yet to be pinned down. And in a genre where super soldiers all have one track motivations and single purpose existences, it’s revitalizing to see an action movie where a character has divergent emotional breakthroughs.
That may sound sappy, but emotions are what separate the action movie men from the boys. Good heroes need to be soldiers first and super second. They need to question why they’re doing things, they need to discover what they’re truly capable of and they have to act out of a respect for the greater good. They can’t just act because they’re super and that’s what super people do. When that happens you get movies like Ultraviolet, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Salt, G.I. Joe, Doom, Aeon Flux, Solo and even Kick-Ass. Enjoyable movies? Yes. Benchmarks? No. And in the case of that last inferior flick, yes, it’s sa-weet watching Hit Girl kill a bunch of schlubs, but it’s also hollow and meaningless.
Hanna, on the other hand, joins the ranks of The Bourne franchise precisely because it does have a solid core. Its stars’ actions resonate with other people and vice-versa. She’s not just some killer who exists in a consequence-less void, she’s a human being. Genetically abnormal, but a human all the same.

Later this year you will likely flock to your local movie theater to watch a young man become a super soldier at the height of WWII. This month you can see a somewhat less stylized but no less sensational story about a young girl who was born into a similar life of action and international adventure. Her name is Hanna and she can kill you with your own knife while it’s still in your hand.
Joe Wright (Atonement) directs this well-balanced coming of age story set within the cold and unforgiving world of assassins and espionage. The film follows the titular heroine who has lived a reclusive life in the forest with her rogue CIA-agent father on a vengeful mission that takes her all across the map. Trained to survive in the harshest conditions and fight like the spawn of Lara Croft and Rambo she is pursued by deadly adversaries as she inches closer to her primary target a ruthless CIA handler who had mysterious past dealings with her Dad all while discovering what life outside the woods is like.
While star Saoirse Ronan’s visceral turn is a marvel to observe so too is Wright’s. Like his protagonist he ventures into the unknown with this material taking the reigns of a film that couldn’t be any more foreign to him. Coming off of past projects grounded in romance and realism he forges new territory with Hanna delivering a fresh approach to the at-times tired spy thriller. He presents the major plot points of the story patiently delicately hinting at the big picture and always leaving you pining for more. Though the twist is ultimately predictable the fun part is putting the pieces of the puzzle together on your own. You’ll find more brilliance in his method by dissecting the picture piece by piece. His use of sound in both the film’s abstract score (from the sorely missed Chemical Brothers) and its effects which phase in and out at calculated points is in part a cinematic experiment that plays with perception in ways that audiences may not have experienced in a mainstream movie. There are also a few visual motifs in select scenes (most notably a killer fight sequence that ends with Eric Bana exterminating a handful of Agency henchman) that tell a parallel visual tale to supplement the narrative.
Thematically Hanna is even more complex. Screenwriters Seth Lochhead and David Farr explore the limitations of a disconnected mind in their Black List-certified script giving their curious character the opportunity to learn much about society and her self while hitchhiking across continents. Of greater significance is the culture clash of Western materialism and Eastern minimalism manifested in the form of a British family traveling abroad that Hanna befriends (the young daughter played by Jessica Barden is a poster child for consumerism) and the contrast between Cate Blanchett’s Marissa Wiegler and Bana’s Erik Heller.
Provoking thought while providing plentiful doses of popcorn entertainment the film works on so many levels and is a unique entry in the collective canon of assassin-on-the-run flicks. Its story is far from groundbreaking but Wright’s surreal visuals and anti-establishment attitude make Hanna a radically original action experience.

Earlier this month I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with the cast of Universal Pictures new sci-fi comedy Paul. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Joe Lo Truglio, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner and director Greg Mottola were all in attendance, spilling the beans about their funny new film, the on-set antics the ensued during the production and whether or not they believe in aliens.
It was a fun event and I wish you all could've been there to meet the hilarious cast, but since I don't own a time machine (well, not that I know of) I'm doing the next best thing: providing you with some of the most informative and entertaining quotes given by the actors and director about Paul. Click here to read my review of the film and read on below for select quotes:
Greg Mottola on how he got involved in the project:
The way this film came about was I got a call from my agent that Simon Pegg had a movie that he was writing with Nick Frost about an alien. Much like the kind of pop culture mash-ups he had done on Spaced, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, this was going to be their sci-fi love letter. They weren’t going to be able to do it with Edgar Wright, he was going off to do Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and they wanted an American director. I met with Simon the day Superbad opened, we met in NYC. Simon had been shooting a film all night long. They had the wrap party and he was still drunk the next morning. I was very nervous because my first ever studio movie was coming out and he told me the plot and they were still in the middle of writing it. I said please let me do it. I warned them that I’m not as good as Edgar Wright and that it’ll be something else, something different. I love Edgar and I was intimidated to do a film with these guys who had done incredible work. I had to try, it was too fun to pass up.
Simon Pegg &amp; Nick Frost on how their road trip across the southwestern United States influenced the writing of Paul.
SP: It was the most important thing we did prior to writing the film.
NF: It was the only thing we did.
SP: We’ve traveled around America a lot, but we go apple to apple and its not until you drive that you realize how enormous and breathtaking and beautiful and scary and lonely and varied and extraordinary this country is. And the fact that it has so many people in it and yet you can go a whole day and not see anyone. A lot of what we experienced on the road, and the adventures we had went into the script. The only thing that didn’t happen to us on the trip was meeting the alien. We made that up. I confess. A bird hit the window. We ran into some scary hunter...
Kristen Wiig on playing a closed-minded, conservative Christian and Jason Bateman on creationism:
KW: I wasn't bothered by it because I didn't feel like we were making fun of it. I think it's just an interesting character choice for someone who's about to see an alien for the first time. Because, you know, if you see one or we realize that they're there, that does ask a lot of questions in regards to religion. And I think they took that and made it a funny character trait rather than making fun of anyone or making a statement or anything like that.
JB: Maybe I'm an idiot, which I've been called, but the religious creationism thing -- seeing an alien wouldn't necessarily debunk that, because wouldn't the creationist then say, "Yeah, they created the aliens as well. He didn't just create life on Earth. He created life on all these other places we just haven't been able to see them yet."
Kristen Wiig on having fun on set and breaking character during a scene:
We did a game called "Stop, Stop, The Robber Is Coming." And each time we took a turn, there were really no rules, we kind of made them up before each turn, and I really think that was why I had to run a mile. But we did a lot of off-camera fun and games and stuff like that.
Personally, I know that once I laugh, I can't go back. As I'm about to say it the second time I feel like everyone is wondering if I'm going to do it again, so then I just start laughing. So for me, I just have to not do it or else we'll be there all night. And that's kind of the other thing. If you start laughing, you start feeling bad because everyone is like, "Okay, that was funny for a second but we've really got to get out of here."
Jason Bateman on working with Pegg and Frost:
I like their British humor. It tends to be a little drier, a little less winky than what we ding-dongs do over here. So that was fun. I tried to learn as much as I could. Mostly, I was really taken by how kind and nice and enthusiastic they were. They wrote a movie and a big studio gave them a bunch of money to shoot it and they got to hire all of their friends and it was just a great place to go to work.
Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio on what attracted them to Paul:
BH: What made me want to do it was that I was a huge fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. I knew them socially and thought they were good guys. And I had worked with Greg Mottola times. It was kind of like I heard they were just working together and I was like, yeah I'd love to be involved.
JLT: Same. I'd been fans of Simon and Nick since Shaun of the Dead -- I'm a big horror movie fan. While watching that movie, I just knew that I was watching people who loved what I loved. So I jumped the chance to work with them. And of course, it was great working with Greg and Bill. And I knew Kristin. It was just a dream opportunity. They didn't twist my arm too much (laughs) to do it.
Joe Lo Truglio on being the physical stand-in for Paul:
It was a thrill to do. I had never been in a movie with so many visual effects so as a lover of film I was very interested in being part of that whole process. And then hanging out with Simon and Nick every day was such a treat. It was fun because Seth [Rogen] did such a great job with bringing what he wanted to bring to it and then I'd throw in some ideas and some lines and they'd add things. There was just a lot of people throwing their two cents in to this character that, if it didn't work, the movie doesn't work. It was a thrill to be part of bringing him to life. And my knees were saved from any scrapes because I was wearing knee pads.
Bill Hader on why Judd Apatow's work resonates so well with contemporary audiences:
When you work with him on stuff, it's never about just being funny. It's like, yeah, we know it's funny but where's it coming from? If you watch all of his movies, everything is coming from a kind of personal place. What do you know, where's the emotion in it? It's really smart and it taught me a lot, working with him in that way. Superbad, I mean, that was such a personal movie, obviously. I mean, Seth and Evan named the guys after them. But he was smart enough to be like, Greg Mottolla, I'm a fan of yours and I trust you guys to just go do your thing, you know? And Greg brought so much heart to that movie. That whole end scene in the Escalade is just touching, you know? It's also about letting people do their thing, you know? He's really smart about that. He's also sort of a fan of people. Any time I hang out with him, all we really talk about is comedy that's inspired us. Comedy albums. You know what I mean? Lorne Michaels is the same way. You talk to him and it's just like, this is a big comedy nerd, like us. They're just great guys, you know.

According to Variety, Jude Law and Aaron Johnson are in talks to join Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina, the Joe Wright-directed adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel, penned by Tom Stoppard. For those readers who slept through that part of their high school literature class, the classic novel follows a woman (to-be-played by Knightley) who finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage as she feels attracted to a soldier. Right now, there's no word as to who Law or Johnson will play, but we imagine it will be some type of leading role -- considering they are both pretty big names and the fact that the major roles still need to be cast. But, the best part about all of this? Since, you know, Mr. Law has always seemed a little, well, dumb, we might finally get the answer to that secretly wondered question of if he can actually read. If he in fact cannot, then starring in a film based on a classic novel is certainly the right way to play it.
Source: Variety

If a major motion picture studio gave you $50 million to make the movie of your choice what would it be like? If you’re producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost it’d be a loving lampoon of geek culture and an homage to the films of the Spielberg/Lucas revolution but nostalgia is both an advantage and disadvantage in director Greg Mottola’s Paul.
Pegg and Frost star as a pair of nerds from across the pond who fulfill lifelong dreams when they fly to San Diego for the annual Mecca of nerdom Comic-Con. The doofy duo extend their trip to tour America’s extraterrestrial hot spots including Area 51 where they pick up an unexpected alien hitchhiker on the run from the proverbial men in black. Across the country they go getting into trouble picking up more passengers and building bromantic bonds as the little green man Paul inches closer to his escape from planet Earth and the shadowy government official who has been exploiting his knowledge of the universe since he crash landed in Wyoming over 60 years ago.
Fan-favorite filmmakers since 2004’s Shaun of the Dead Pegg and Frost have been making geek chic for years now and continue to create identifiable roles for themselves while finding humorous ways to write their like-minded friends into their movies. Their collection of wacky characters is charming if incredibly derivative but for better or worse they are the heart and soul of the film. Jason Bateman Kristen Wiig Bill Hader and Jo Lo Truglio turn in fun performances but I expected a bit more from the Jane Lynch David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver cameos. Still Seth Rogen’s vocal performance as Paul adds significant layers to an already adorable alien and enlivens the adequately rendered CG character.
The comedy is surprisingly sweet and doesn’t bite like Mottola’s Superbad though there are enough religious jabs and signs of anti-establishment fervor to call it mildly subversive. Lack of laughs isn’t the issue here; lack of originality is. Mottola is too dependent on pop-culture references and inside jokes pertaining to E.T. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind so much so that the film ultimately becomes a parody of itself as its storyline mirrors that of Steven Spielberg’s massive 1982 blockbuster (in this world the movie mogul actually consults the incarcerated alien for inspiration for his beloved family film). While these nods are all amusing they’re not enough to carry the film and Mottola/Frost/Pegg offer little else. At its worst Paul will give you a reason to revisit those classic sci-fi staples and remember the good old days. At best it provides a few mindless chuckles and gives you good reason to give the geek next to you a great big hug.

Title

Directed first short "Crocodile Snap," about a woman's bid to escape her violent husband

Directed the thriller "Hanna," starring Saoirse Ronan as an assassin trained by her ex-CIA agent father (Eric Bana)

Made feature directorial debut with "Pride and Prejudice," an adaptation of the Jane Austen classic; starred Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director

Directed "The Soloist," a film about musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard and ended up homeless on the streets of L.A.

Made miniseries directorial debut with "Nature Boy" (BBC)

Re-teamed with Knightley to direct an adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement"

Third film with Keira Knightley, the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"

Started his career as a teenager helping at the Little Angel Theatre in Islington, North London, a venue founded by his late father

Helmed the BBC drama "Charles II: The Power & the Passion" (aired in the U.S. on A&E as "The Last King")

Summary

An English director adept in adapting dramatic literature, Joe Wright also demonstrated a facility with more modern day fare that was far removed from the period costume dramas for which he had first gained notoriety. Wright first broke out in England with his critically-acclaimed and award-nominated take on the Jane Austen classic, "Pride and Prejudice" (2005), starring his soon-to-be muse, Keira Knightley. Praised for his insistence on a sense of movement and realism in a genre long-considered stuffy and reserved, Wright continued his success in adapting period source material with "Atonement" (2007), a sweeping epic starring Knightley and based on the award-winning novel by British contemporary Ian McEwan. Two contemporary-set projects followed - the based-on-fact tale of music and redemption "The Soloist" (2009), starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, and the violent fairy tale thriller "Hanna" (2011), with young Saoirse Ronan in the title role. He paired with Knightley for the third time to bring Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's sweeping novel "Anna Karenina" (2012) to life in an intoxicatingly extravagant production. One of the more technically adventurous and unpredictable young directors of his generation, Wright continued to seek out new challenges, for both audiences and himself as a filmmaker.<p>Wright was born in 1972 in London, England. He grew up in a creative household, as his parents had founded a puppet company called The Little Angel Theatre. Wright always kept his eye on the arts, taking up painting and acting at a young age, but felt that the best he could do in life was to be a postman. Nonetheless, he developed an interest in film growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. With little instruction, he began pursuing his passion the old-fashioned way; making his own movies with a Super-8 film camera. Despite being exceptionally bright and enterprising, Wright was a poor student because of his dyslexia. But on the strength of his homemade films and drawings, Wright was admitted to a private art school and later attended the Camberwell College of Arts, where he studied fine art and cinema. On of his short films, "Crocodile Snap" (1997), earned him several awards and nominations, including a nod at the 1998 BAFTA Awards, as well as a filmmaking scholarship with the BBC.<p>Wright started working in British television, beginning with the cult hit miniseries "Nature Boy," (BBC, 2000), "Bodily Harm" (Channel 4, 2002) and the period epic, "Charles II: The Power and the Passion" (A & E, 2003). The prolific young director made the jump to feature films with "Pride and Prejudice," the 1813 Jane Austen classic about the Bennett sisters, notably the free-thinking Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), and their mission to marry into genteel society. Reluctant to make a costume drama when he considered himself a filmmaker with edgier tastes, Wright nonetheless agreed to give the book a try after being sent the script, having never read it in his youth. After bringing it with him to a neighborhood pub, Wright was struck by how people faced the same difficulties in love and understanding back then, as people did in current society. By the time he finished the book, he had changed his mind and signed on to direct.<p>Not a stiff, mannered piece of literature, but the keen observations of a 24-year-old girl with a modern sensibility at the beginning of the 19th century, Wright was determined to transfer that spirit to film. In getting to the rebellious nature of the original work, Wright was careful to avoid the 1940 version starring Laurence Olivier and the 1995 BBC miniseries, considered by many to be the definitive interpretation of Austen's work. In casting Knightley as Lizzie and newcomer Matthew McFayden as her unlikely suitor, Darby, Wright stayed true to his conviction that the characters should be young enough to be discovering and exploring love for the first time. He also cast British stalwart Dame Judi Dench and American acting icon Donald Sutherland in the pivotal roles of Lady Catherine and Mr. Bennett.<p>Wright shifted the story from inside the parlor rooms to outside in the country, significantly opening up the visual palette, and favored realistic dirt and grime over pomp and circumstance. Avoiding the somber, carefully staged shots of stagecoaches pulling up to stately manors, Wright kept the camera moving with tracking shots, bringing an urgency and modern sense of life to the nearly 200-year-old story. His efforts paid off. "Pride and Prejudice" was a hit with critics, who widely embraced his grittier interpretation, while the film was a moneymaker at the box office, grossing over $120 million worldwide. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including a best actress nod for Knightley. For his efforts, Wright earned a BAFTA award for most promising newcomer. Aside from cementing his reputation as a filmmaker to be reckoned with, Wright also clicked enough with actress Rosamund Pike, who played Jane Bennett in the film, that she later became his wife.<p>After the dust settled, Wright was invited to direct another adaptation. He was given present-day literary giant Ian McEwan's 2001 novel, "Atonement," the story of a young girl who irrevocably alters lives when she fabricates a story, implicating a young man for a crime he never committed. Wright reunited with leading lady Knightley, who was joined onscreen by James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave. Critics embraced the film when it made the rounds at the festivals in Venice and Toronto, praising it for its fidelity to the award-winning novel. For a follow-up project, Wright was set to direct "The Soloist," the story of a violin prodigy whose schizophrenia reduced him to a life of homelessness and playing on the streets for donations. For a follow-up project, Wright directed "The Soloist" (2009), the true-to-life story about violin prodigy Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), who developed schizophrenia while attending the Juilliard School, leaving him homeless and performing on the streets for money. But his life changes when a <i>Los Angeles Times</i> columnist (Robert Downey, Jr.) discovers and befriends him, leading to fulfilling Ayers' dream of performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.<p>Wright remained in the here and now for his next feature, "Hannah" (2011), although the action-thriller with dark, fantastical elements was yet another departure for the daring filmmaker. Reuniting the director with Saoirse Ronan from "Atonement," the film followed a young girl (Ronan) who, after being trained from birth by her rogue C.I.A. operative father (Eric Bana), flees from a shadowy agency officer (Cate Blanchett) intent on killing them both. A violent coming-of-age fairy tale of sorts, "Hannah" impressed the majority of critics and became a moderate hit for Wright. He returned to more familiar period literary trappings the following year with an ambitious adaptation of Tolstoy's classic novel "Anna Karenina" (2012). Starring frequent collaborator Knightley in the title role, Wright's take on the epic tale of 19th century czarist Russian life was simultaneously praised for its lush production values, cinematography and Knightley's performance, even as it was criticized for emphasizing gloss of substance.